


Yours alone

by Sookiestark



Series: Serving You Alone [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Babies, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Land across the Sunset Sea, Marriage, Weirwood(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-06-22 13:11:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15582723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sookiestark/pseuds/Sookiestark
Summary: Fluff about Arya and Pod and their journey across the  Sunset Sea





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Jujingamay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jujingamay/gifts).



> So this is a gift to Jujingamay- Sorry it took so long but sometimes things take some time. Thanks for your patience!
> 
>  
> 
> This is going to be a little fluff story about Arya and Pod across the Sunset sea- Three or four small chapters at most!

In the space of this small, dark cabin with stale air, he thinks he might never leave. It took too long to get here. Alone with her. 

Lord Tyrion had watched them leave at Lannisport. He had outfitted them with a ship and crew and provisions, as much as would hold. Pod had turned down all reward for his role in the War. All he had wanted was a ship so that they could sail the Sunset Sea. It had always’s been Arya’s wish to go west. Now, that she had returned to him, it was his wish as well. After all, her safe return had been his wish and her coming back for him had seemed like he could never wish for anything again. Pod was not a selfish man. 

Tyrion had spoken to them,”You have enough provisions for three moons. After sixty days, you must turn back. No matter what. Promise me, Lady Arya.”

Arya would not. Pod already knew. He had smiled his apologetic smile and followed her on to the deck. Pod had waved and thanked the well-wishers on the docks. But, Arya ignored them, too busy facing westward toward the horizon and adventure. 

But Arya comes to him on the deck after she is done watching the horizon get larger and Pod is done watching the coastline disappear. 

She looks at him and smiles in the wind, her hair whipping around her. He smiles back and squeezes her hand. They do so much without speaking. She leads him down to the room below deck. Arya has her own room but had the men move her things to his rooms. Leading him, Pod follows. He will follow her to the end of the world and now his adventure begins. It is her and him

Against the door of his room, she turns to face him, leaning against it. He bows his head to lean in and kiss her and she smiles, “I missed you, Pod.” 

He smiles back, “I missed you more.” 

She opens the room and starts removing her pants. As his eyes adjust to the dark, he feels for the soft feel of the mattress. When he finds it, he turns to see her. 

She comes to him in just her shirt. Her skinny thighs barely covered by the hem. All her other clothes must be in a pile somewhere in this tiny room on the floor.

“I missed the taste of you,” she says pulling his shirt off and licking from his chest to his neck. 

He pulls from her and holds her head in his palms, “Arya, don't leave me again. I will be your squire, your soldier, your servant, but don't leave me again.” 

“Shhh… I don't want you to serve me. I want you. You alone, Podrick Payne.”

After all this time, he is certain he will tremble. He skates his knuckles over her face, certain his fingers are dirty and will stain her skin. She leans up to him with a smile as if he is the sunshine and she a cat. 

She wraps her hands around his shoulders and kisses him. It is full of all the longing of months and the certainty that she was lost When he pulls from her, she seems a bit disoriented. Biting her lip, she asks him in a whisper, “Pod, why are you still dressed?”

He looks embarrassed, “I hadn't thought beyond shutting the door.” 

“Pod, Ser… My Lord, let me help you.”

When she lingers at his belt, he is certain she is torturing him. He closes his eyes and reminds himself they have all the days and nights of the journey, unwatched except for the ship’s crew, all paid with Lannister gold. He has the freedom to kiss her anytime.

In a fit of childish, playful joy, he tickles her and they fall on the mattress. In a few moments, she has him pinned against the bed. Her brown hair grows longer since she has been gone and it tickles him, as she leans over him. Laughing, she speaks, “Beg me for mercy. Say I have won.”

“Arya, you have always won. I have always been yours. Yours alone… completely.”

She stops laughing and lets go of his arms. Softly, she kisses him. "I am yours as well, Yours alone." 

He pulls her to the pillows and loses himself in the words that ring in his ears and her kisses that burn red wildfire against the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have modeled The People after the Wampanoag and Narragansett tribes found in New England. Because I wanted to keep it short, I made them a peaceful folk. 
> 
> Next chapter, we will be back in Westeros and finished.

Pod wakes. He knows it is later than he usually wakes and wonders if Powata will be at the ship already, waiting for them to leave. If she is, she will tease him mercilessly for being lazy and sleeping all day. She will say he is wrapped up with his women in the sheets. Powata’s voice will be stern but she will smile and he will know she is happy for him.

 

He never used to take naps or sleep late. Of course, there was never any time for a squire or a page. There were always chores, always tasks, always a punishment for things unfinished. Here things are different. Since he has been with her here, so much is different.

He wakes and leaves the hut. It is a simple thing, mostly skin and rope covering the wood. It has taken some time to build, but it is better than sleeping on the ship. He already dreads the return trip, stuffed beneath the dark stale ship with only dried salted meat and porridge to eat for two moons. 

When he sees her outside on the seashore, the morning sun is behind her and she is up to her ankles in the water. She is in a nightshirt. It is his. His shirts fit her better now that she is pregnant and showing. “Arya.,” he calls to her.

She is playing in the sea. Looking toward him, she smiles, “Pod…” 

 

She is standing on the shore of the Sea. The people here in this land call it Appaugon. The People of the Woods is what they call themselves in his tongue. Powata is the sachem here, which is their leader, their lord. Powata was the one that let them stay and help with the fields and reap part of their harvest. Pod has been one of her Council for the last three moons, as has Arya. Part of the Council and Honored Guest.

He looks at her in the growing light. Her belly is showing. They will leave soon. He can hear what is left of the crew helping load the long boats to row them to the sea, where their ship lies waiting. Pod worries. It took at least two months to get here and they have been here four months. He had wanted to stay until she delivered the baby. Arya says they will have time to get back, but she doesn't seem to understand the risk of giving birth on the ship or a newborn at sea. 

They have stayed so long helping with harvest to take what share they could and preparing what they could for the travel.

When they first arrived among the People, they thought he was a mighty chief to have such a woman as Arya as his mate but then they saw the truth of it. Powata says he is a good man and he has as much potential as an acorn will grow to a mighty oak. He hears the praise in her words, but he also hears the questions. 

He has been surprised how quickly he has learned to speak their language. Besides Arya and their Captain, no one else has been able to speak so well. When they first landed here and the Captain and Arya made the decision to settle here to replenish supplies, some of the men decided to resist and mutiny. All those men are dead now. 

“I thought you might sleep all day,” she says as she closes him around her arms, The shadow of her stomach in the sunlight is dark against the white linen, her small feet in the surf. He thinks he might sometimes be in heaven. The People call this place paradise and he agrees. 

 

The People had welcomed them trading with them furs and food for dragonglass and steel. They had sailed too long and used up much of their supplies. Arya had kept asking for a few more days. When they saw the gulls and then other birds, they had almost given up hope. As soon as they landed, Powata had met with these strange looking travelers. When she and Arya had emerged, she had said over the group that the People would help these visitors with food, if they were willing to help. Arya was seen as a great wizard, a warrior, a chief among the people. He would be sad to leave these generous and kind people. The members of the tribe had called them foolish to try and cross Father Sea twice after he showed them the way to the People. Pod agreed with them. 

Pod had been working in the fields growing the Three Sisters, one was beans, and the other two unfamiliar vegetables like corn, and a thing they called squash. When he was not doing that, he would wrestle with the boys and teach them to fight. He was not as good with a bow as a sword. However, Arya excelled at archery, as well as sword fighting. Though once she began to show, the boys would not wrestle her or fight against her. It was bad luck to touch a pregnant woman unless you were her husband.

When they were alone in bed, with her arms around him, Pod would tease her that she was cursing him to a life of bad luck and she would kiss him and tell him he was free to find another hut to sleep in. He would pull her even closer and kiss her even harder. 

No matter how many times he would ask her to marry him, she would always refuse. No matter what he said, she would ignore his requests and the men of the tribe would tease him he should have married her before he bedded her because she was a water spirit and she would not be contained. She would take their child and slide back into the sea one day. 

Sometimes, it frightened him to think she would one day disappear. In the night, she would pull him close and try to alleviate his fears. “Do not listen. I promised you and only you.” 

It would help, but as the day hours grew long, he would feel his doubts weigh on him heavily. 

Yesterday in the late day, she had taken him by the hand with just a pack on her back and a waterskin. It had been late afternoon and he had said that they should not leave so late but she had persisted. “I want to show you something. We are not the first of Westeros to come here.” 

 

They walked through the forest for almost an hour but it was apparent this was a path. However, in his time here, he had never taken this way. When they reached their destination, a clearing on the top of a hill, there was the most beautiful weirwood with its lush red leaves all around. It does not have the traditionally terrifying face carved in it. Instead, the tree is has a happy face, delighted, surprised. Pod had smiled at the sight. Of course, the People would have a gentle weirwood, a happy one.

The Wisewoman, Magda was there with several of her students. They had lit torches around it.

Pod still amazed, spoke in wonder, “How?”

“They call her Mother tree. She is their heart, the heart of the People. They say Mother Winter and her greenchildren brought her here. She brought many gifts and spoke of those with eyes of ice.” 

 

It is beautiful. He only sees her here as the sun is setting, “Does it make you homesick?”

She looks at him, “A little...I thought we might say our vows.”

“Our vows?”

“For the baby,” she says shyly, “I know that Jon had a hard time of it.” 

“Are you asking me to marry you?”

“Yes.” 

He takes her in his arms and hugs her, “Of course.” 

She pulls out a cape with porcupine quills, turquoise, and shells sewn in an elaborate fashion making a wolf head. It is intricate and must have taken several people to even make it in a moon’s time. He is still shaking off his amazement, “Your wedding cloak?”

Arya is apologetic, “I did not make one for House Payne. I did not know their sigil.”

“Do not fuss. I have this plain one. I will take your name and House, so the children could be Starks. This cloak is so nice. Who made it?”

“I did with the help of Magda and some of the women.” 

He knows what it means to her to have worked on this with needle and thread. He is unfamiliar with her way of marriage but they say their vows in front of the Mother tree. Magda speaks asking him who he is and why he is here. She whispers what he must say and he repeats it. When Magda asks Arya if she will take Pod as her husband, her yes is the only sound he hears for several minutes

The small group cheered when Magda made the sign of the hawk and the wolf. Arya kisses him lightly in front of the group. All he can hear is his heartbeat.

As Magda and her students disappear down the path, she smiles and says there is a small feast waiting for them at the camp. Arya pulls his hand “Wait.” 

“What?” he asks. 

 

She kisses him. “Stay,” she says, pulling him to the ground. He kisses her as she climbs in his lap. The heat and burn increasing like wildfire with each beat of his heart. She is his and he is hers from now until the end of his days. Their child will not be a Hill, or a Rivers, or a Snow. It will be a Stark and have a family. 

She slips a hand beneath his pants to take him in her hand. “What are you doing?” he asks.

“I want to feel my husband,” she says slipping him inside her and gasping slightly as she starts to move.

“Here?” He can barely speak because of how good she feels.

 

“Everywhere. But here is a good start…”


	3. Chapter 3

The pain had started early when Casterly Rock was still a spot on the horizon. Hours ago, she had clutched at his arm and he had told the Captain to hurry. The Captain had been with them the whole time and knew Arya was not given to female hysteria or sentiment but he said, "We all want to get home. It has been too long. I will get us there as quickly as I can." Pod had brought her in their room and tried to play cyvasse with her. She had beaten him three times before they stopped. When they had docked, the pains came quicker and harder. Pod had thought to find a healer or a midwife in the village below Casterly Rock but he had looked at the shacks and thought it might be better for the child if they could get somewhere cleaner. 

Now they are carrying her in a wagon up the hill. She is screaming by the time they reach the gates in the dark. He is afraid that the baby is stuck and killing her somehow, in some unknown way. He feels guilt and fear and rage and is close to punching the guard in his Lannister red coat. "Let me in!" he argues with the guard. "I come as a guest of Lord Tyrion's. I am Podrick... Stark and this is my wife, Lady Arya Stark. Hurry and let me in or Lord Tyrion will be cross when he finds how rudely you have treated us. " 

The guard weighs the choices in the torchlight and decides to let the man and his pregnant wife into Casterly Rock. They do not seem like they would do much harm.

As Pod helps her down off the wagon, her water breaks and the fear sets in the corners of her face. Pod has been thinking of the thousands of things he has heard could go wrong in childbirth, fever, blood loss, internal bleeding, breech birth, and on and on. He cannot push them from his mind. There is panic behind her eyes and he wonders if its because she knows her death is near. She falters and he picks her up, her arms around his neck. She leans into him, whispering, "I cannot do this. I'm afraid. I cannot. I cannot do this." Pod tries to calm her. "No worries. We are safe here at Casterly Rock. Lord Tyrion will send for the best midwife." She looks at him, eyes closed and says, "I cannot. I cannot. I want my Mother." Pod wants to calm her but he must get her inside and the steward is walking quickly across the yard. Walking as quickly as he can while he carries her, Pod follows the man. Lord Tyrion meets him in his dressing gown, rubbing his eyes with a huge warm smile. "Pod, you've been gone for almost a year we thought you were dead. Tell me about your journey. You sent no word."

"I am sorry, my Lord. I will be glad to tell you but there is a bit of a situation. I need your help. Please, Arya needs a Maester or a midwife. Quickly."

At this, he hears a woman's voice from behind the door Lord Tyrion came from, "Arya?" Arya?" Lady Sansa comes with the voice and she rushes to the room. She is dressed in a dressing gown and Pod wonders briefly why everyone was sleeping so early in the night. Lady Sansa's hair is loose and red over her shoulders. When Sansa realizes the woman in his arms is her sister, she hugs them both tightly. "Sansa," Arya speaks with a great relief and then begins to cry. Pod does not know if it is pain, relief, or joy that makes his wife cry. Silently, he makes note that he should go to the sept and thank The Seven. They could not send her Mother but they sent her sister instead.

Of course. Lord Tyrion calls for help.

Later, as they sit in the hallway outside the birthing room, a servant brings them two mugs of mulled wine. Lord Tyrion asks him, "You married her?" 

"I did. I even took her name so she could keep it. Hers meant more than mine."

Tyrion laughed. "We are glad to have you safe and sound and soon to be a father." "Do you think she will be well?" "I do not think Sansa would allow for any other outcome but that mother and child come out of this well." Only a few moments later, a midwife came from the room, "She was a slight thing but she did the job well. The mother and child are fine. You can go in if you would like." When he walked into the room, he saw Arya in a small bed with a small bundle wrapped in Lannister red blanket. Lord Tyrion walked softly behind him. Arya looked pale and exhausted and Pod thought to himself he had never seen her look so. She motioned for him to come closer. When he reached the bed, he peered over her shoulder into the blanket. Sansa stepped out of the chair beside the bed so he could sit. "Arya, how are you? I was worried." 

She smiled at him. “We are fine now, though I do not know if I want to do that again. Look at him. He is wonderful.”  
Pod sat next to her and smiled with wonder, "Him? It is a boy..."

"Would you like to hold him, our son?" She is beaming, glowing with pride and love. Pod nods and Sansa takes the baby from her sister and shows him how to hold him. He looks at his son with all his dark curls like his mother and when his son looks at him, he has grey eyes of a Stark. Pod laughs, "Welcome, son. Welcome. What should we name him?" Arya looks at her husband. "I would like to name him, Jon... Jon Stark." Pod looks at his son and his wife. Arya wants to name him for her favorite brother, for her dead cousin, the name he always wanted and never could claim. It is a big name with much meaning, a good name for a boy raised with wolves in Winterfell. He looks at the boy and smiles. He realizes in that moment that now it is more than just her and him. It is the three of them and that is one of the best things Pod has ever heard.


End file.
